


Understand

by cleanlittlesecret



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-16 13:57:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11830149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cleanlittlesecret/pseuds/cleanlittlesecret
Summary: Zethrid may not be the most observant among the generals, but Narti is patient enough to show things to her. She doesn’t need words to communicate.





	Understand

**Author's Note:**

> “Just because my thoughts and feelings don’t spill out into the world in a shout that never stops doesn’t mean I don’t have them...Every time you think, _Oh, she’s just emptiness,_  or, _There’s nothing going on inside her,_  or, _Maybe I can dump her with these two,_  I hear it, okay? I hear every stupid thing you think, all right? And I understand _way_ more than I want to.”  
> 
> 
> – Patrick Ness, _The Knife of Never Letting Go_  
> 

Heat radiated from the house’s clay rooftop, a reflection of the tenacious sun in the sky. Crouched over the warmth, Narti slowly combed her claws through Kova’s thick fur as he lay stretched on his side before her. They had been on this roof for a while now, absorbing light into dark skin and fur—this planet, Puig, overflowed with sunshine, more than they would ever feel out in space, and oh, how she had missed that feeling. How she had missed being soaked in warmth.

Only one thing disturbed this resting quiet. The air buzzed with anxiety, the sound of thoughts swarming through minds like bugs in a hive. She could feel the Puigians even at a distance—their hatred, frustration, fear. Of course, it made sense to be scared by something that threatened you, and in that way, all Lotor’s generals were scary. But she was more. She was eerie, uncanny, something no one could comprehend. She had seen herself through Kova’s eyes before, and she knew how people thought of her.

The one who couldn’t see. The one who didn’t talk. The one who made people into puppets.

Kova’s shoulder flexed as he lifted his head, and his breath made a slight rasp as he sniffed. She turned her face, finding the wind’s direction as she checked the air, and caught a scent, warm and inviting like an open door at night. The smell of cooked meat. She rose to her feet to move closer, and when she stopped at the roof’s edge, a call leaped from the street.

“There you are, Narti!” The voice was bright and raspy—Zethrid’s. “I’ve got stuff for you and Kova down here!”

Fur brushed past her leg, then a tap sounded on the ground below. Kova must have jumped down to the road.

“Yeah, you heard your name, didn’t you? Here, kitty-kitty.”

Narti stepped over the edge to let herself fall the short distance to the ground, and her legs flexed to catch her weight as she landed. The smell was stronger down here—she didn’t have to check Kova’s vision to picture what Zethrid looked like with a skewer of cooked meat in one hand and the mystery gifts in the other—but she caught other scents as well. The first was the soft and green breath of herbs; the second was sweeter and a touch sour.

“I found something similar to that grass you give Kova growing in a garden here, so I picked it for him. He’s not hard to please when it comes to this stuff, huh?” The ground vibrated under Narti’s feet as Zethrid stepped closer. “And I found this in someone’s house. It looks kind of like that thing you seemed to like on the last planet we _visited._ You wanna try it?”

Narti offered her hands, together with palms facing up, and something light settled in them—a ball-shaped fruit with smooth skin that gave easily under her claws. A sniff filled her head with its soft sweetness, but it was tinged with rot. A test bite split the flesh under her teeth and revealed the insides were a little dry, not as juicy as other kinds she had eaten before, but that was the way she liked it.

How strange, to find one species of fruit on more than one planet. Maybe it had been traded by long-ago merchants or spread by accident-prone explorers. The fake rotting smell had probably evolved to attract scavenger animals, but it also could have been a simple quirk of genetics. Who knew?

Restless as always, Zethrid had moved past her to examine the house Narti had been sunbathing on. “Geez, all the windows on this planet are so narrow. How’s anyone supposed to look through this?” Narti tapped her tail against Zethrid’s leg. “Huh?”

Narti took a second bite, this one bigger, making sure to show where the first was. Zethrid laughed.

“So I was right. You do like that stuff!”

Her appreciation conveyed, Narti devoured the fruit with quick bites, then cleaned the last tastes of it from her claws. Zethrid may not be the most observant among the generals, but Narti was patient enough to show things to her. She didn’t need words to communicate.

Acxa and Ezor had been awkward around Narti when they first met her, and they had avoided touching her for a while after learning about her power—even Lotor, the one who had made a point of shaking her hand that first meeting, had avoided accidental contact until he trusted her—but not Zethrid. She never flinched away from Narti, and she was never scared. Narti could sense the cockiness that guided her instead, assuring her she was strong enough to handle anything, even mind control.

“Hey, Narti, do you think you could send Kova into this house and have a look around for me?”

Kova landed on Narti’s shoulder, settled his weight across the armor there, and bobbed with the motion of grooming his chest.

“Am I supposed to take that as a no, you fluffy hairball?”

Narti reached towards Zethrid and found her free hand, large and warm and loosely clenched at her side. Zethrid let Narti’s fingers slide into her grip, opening her hand a little so the claws wouldn’t scratch her, and rolled her shoulder in a shrug.

“Well, I guess I’ve got enough already. They have tons of nice food here, but Acxa will really go off if she thinks I’ve done too much, and Lotor will probably want to leave this planet soon so we can hit the road again anyways.”

Narti didn’t always need mind control to get her way. Sometimes she could guide Zethrid with just this much, like the navigation controls on a battleship. She had seen Zethrid through Kova’s eyes before, had noted her big ears shaped like his—Zethrid must be suffering under the sun and her fur, but she didn’t complain or move to find shade. She made relaxed talk that filled the silence, and she didn’t pull away. Zethrid was like the sun above, a heat that could be overwhelming, but that was the way Narti liked her. She needed the warmth.


End file.
